1st transgender woman to compete in Miss Maine USA

By Kathleen O’Brien, Bangor Daily News Staff

A transgender woman from Monson will compete in the Miss Maine USA pageant next month, marking the first time an openly transgender woman will vie for the title.

Isabelle St. Cyr, 24, will compete in her first pageant next month at Miss Maine USA in Portland. 

Originally from Howland, St. Cyr said she loved watching the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants and dreamed of competing one day. Now, she feels comfortable and confident enough with her transition to sign up.

The Miss Maine USA pageant welcoming its first ever transgender contestant will come at a time when President Donald Trump is demanding schools nationwide ban transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports and punishing states like Maine that continue allowing it. Most recently, the Trump administration began the process of ending all federal funding for Maine’s K-12 schools. 

While growing up dancing and cheerleading prepared St. Cyr to be onstage and in front of a crowd, she said she’s “a little nervous” to compete as a transgender woman in the current political climate. 

St. Cyr said she did not enter the competition to make a political statement, as she registered for the pageant a year ago, long before Trump began his second term. 

“I’m just doing it because I love pageants and I just happen to be trans,” St. Cyr said. “I want to show everyone that trans women absolutely can do this pageant and can do well.”

The Miss Universe Organization, which the Miss Maine USA falls under, changed its rules in 2012 to allow transgender women to participate, according to Ava Clemente, assistant director of the Clemente Organization, which produces the Miss USA, Miss Universe pageants and the state pageants in Massachusetts and Maine. 

“The Miss Universe Organization is committed to being inclusive and reflective of the evolving values of our society,” Clemente said. “We celebrate all women who embody the values of confidence, community and empowerment that the Miss USA program represents.” 

St. Cyr is the first transgender woman to compete for Miss Maine USA, but other state and national pageants have had transgender contestants. In 2021, Kataluna Enriquez was the first openly transgender woman to compete in Miss USA after she was crowned Miss Nevada USA the same year. 

While the Miss Maine USA competition has become more welcoming, St. Cyr said she’s used to being a target for vitriol from growing up as transgender woman in a small, rural community and beginning her transition in high school, first by wearing women’s clothing and makeup and growing her hair out. 

“Growing up in Howland, I definitely got a lot of bullying,” St. Cyr said. “I got death threats, people following me around, yelling slurs and throwing things at me in school.” 

When she turned 18, St. Cyr gave friends and family her new name and pronouns, then began her medical transition at 20. She now lives in Monson and owns a farm. 

The Miss Maine USA website states contestants must be “a medically recognized female.” St. Cyr said she believes this must mean every contestant’s birth certificate must list them as female and transgender contestants must be working with a doctor. 

The rule change is one of several ways the pageant organization has loosened its eligibility restrictions in recent years to allow more women to compete. 

The organization removed the upper age limit for contestants and now allows married women, divorced women, pregnant women and mothers to compete, according to Clemente. The competition also welcomes women of all sizes and those with tattoos and piercings. 

“I think there’s a lack of education surrounding the pageant and how welcoming they truly are now,” St. Cyr said. “They’ve opened up and changed the organization for the better, which is why I feel so proud to be with this organization rather than some others that maybe aren’t so open and welcoming to all women.”

The pageant takes place over two days and consists of three categories: swimwear/activewear, gown and interview. The interview portion of the competition makes up 50 percent of each contestant’s score while swimwear/activewear and gown are 25 percent each. 

On May 10, the contestants will compete in each category. Then, on May 11, the judges will announce the finalists who then go through a question and answer portion to determine a winner, St. Cyr said. 

Aside from winning the title of Miss Maine USA, St. Cyr said she hopes to show those who may be closeminded that transgender women “deserve to compete and be included just like every other woman.” 

“I am trans but I am also just like everyone else,” St. Cyr said. “I grew up in a small town in Maine and I think that more people, if they gave me the chance, would realize that we have very similar experiences.”